Tuesday, 10 January 2017

Ooooh, Tricky One!

Cheshire Police has now referred the incident to the RSPCA.
A spokesman said: “On the evening of 25 December 2016 police received a report of a dog being injured. On investigation it appeared the dog had attacked another dog and a 58-year-old man. The man received serious injuries to both hands as he tried to get the dog under control and at some point the dog itself was injured.
The dog was treated by a vet and the incident has been referred to the RSPCA.”
Another dangerous dog attack on an unsuspecting family pet? Well, yes.

And...no:
It is understood he was forced to intervene when a Staffordshire Bull Terrier he was fostering attacked his American Staffordshire Terrier.
Well, it's going to be really interesting to see how the RSPCA tackles this one, isn't it? Given their own history with such matters.
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7 comments:

  1. Lisboeta10 January 2017 at 12:21

    Surely, the more aggressive of the two dogs will be promptly put down. Or is that too much to hope?

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  2. selsey.steve10 January 2017 at 23:16

    "Cheshire Police has now referred the incident to the RSPCA."
    WTF???
    The RSPCA is a charity with no lawfull right to investigate and to instigate prosecution proceedings. The RSPCA, despite the "R" in their title, has no right to bring anything other than private prosecutions. No Police "Service" or Force can delegate any investigation to a private organisation, it simply cannot happen.

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  3. Tom Mein11 January 2017 at 07:39

    Police are hoping that the RSPCA are going to prosecute the man as they are too busy investigating vicious Twitter comments

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  4. Anonymous11 January 2017 at 12:09

    Selsey Steve - you are entirely wrong. See the attached or do a simple Google search on RSPCA prosecution. Just because you believe an organisation has no right to bring a private prosecution doesn't mean it can't. You may not believe in the laws of physics, but I'm pretty sure they apply to you even if you don't believe in them.
    Tom Mein - social media wasn't too much of a problem when I was in the police, I'm sure you fondly imagine that there is a huge room full of PC's assiduously combing twitter for nasty remarks. Nearly all of the cases police investigate are as a result of calls from the public, yes I agree that the public should be less thin skinned but we are in a position where offences have to investigated (thanks to Sir Tom Winsor the HMIC) as 'the 'victim must always be believed.
    Have a nice day everybody
    https://www.rspca.org.uk/whatwedo/endcruelty/prosecution
    Retired

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  5. Lynne at Counting Cats11 January 2017 at 20:00

    There's a Stafforshire in America?

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  6. Anonymous12 January 2017 at 10:55

    To clarify my remarks yesterday at 12.09. The RSPCA can bring private prosecutions, as can anyone else. However the CPS have the right to intervene to either take over a private prosecution or discontinue it if that is in the public interest, alternatively they can allow the prosecution to proceed. I'd say only go down the private prosecution path if you have deep pockets or are crowdfunded and have a good case. I wouldn't recommend going to your local magistrates court and trying to take action against your local council chief executive for treason for example, it won't go anywhere.
    The RSPCA comply with the code for crown prosecutors and have a well funded legal team so most of the cases they prosecute will have a good chance of success and pass the public interest test.
    Retired

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  7. JuliaM15 January 2017 at 06:10

    "Or is that too much to hope?"

    Almost certainly, yes!

    "The RSPCA is a charity with no lawfull right to investigate and to instigate prosecution proceedings."

    Sadly, that's what they should be. But as Retired points out, that's not the case (though there's a movement to have them stripped of this power, and I wish it every success).

    "...we are in a position where offences have to investigated (thanks to Sir Tom Winsor the HMIC) as 'the 'victim must always be believed."

    Maybe now the fragrant Amber Rudd herself has fallen foul of this nonsense, she'll clean the Augean Stables?

    Well, we can but hope...

    "There's a Stafforshire in America?"

    The 'American Staffordshire' looks a lot like a common or garden pitbull to me..

    "The RSPCA comply with the code for crown prosecutors and have a well funded legal team so most of the cases they prosecute will have a good chance of success and pass the public interest test. "

    Well, of course it's well funded. Where do you think all those donations from animal lovers go?

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